It used to be so perfect
by coolkitten12
Summary: A few years after the final episode of Home Improvement the family are all moving on with their lives. However, a fight between brothers could end up leaving a mark on the whole family
1. It all started so right

**A/N: Hey everyone. This is my first HI fic, which I decided to write after reading most of the other HI fics in the course of two days. I just wrote this randomly, but I do know what going to happen, basically. Reviews would be appreciated as I'm trying to improve my writing. Any criticism would be taken happily. So enjoy. Also please remember I am from England not America so I may get some things wrong.**

**Chapter One- It all started so right.**

Life had changed a lot in the last few years. Brad left for college in Chicago and once he graduated he had decided to stay there. Mark moved in with his girlfriend after being with he for only a year, and Randy had returned home from Costa Rica. Tim and Jill were happy with the way things were even though they missed their oldest and youngest sons very much, they still had Randy living with them.

"Mom, Brad's on the phone." Randy yelled upstairs. This was a very regular occurrence. Jill took the receiver from him and prepared herself to instruct her eldest in some new life skill.

"Hey mom, how do you clean a soccer kit?" Brad was finding it hard coping alone in his new apartment. He phoned his mom at least once a week to ask some kind of question. But he wasn't worried. In just over a month he would be back at home, and he could learn more skills without having to pay for a call. Of course his parents didn't know he was coming home, but he would tell them when he felt he had to.

Jill wet through the instructions one-by-one as Brad wrote them down carefully.

"Okay Brad that's it, see simple. Now hunni, when are you coming to visit? We haven't seen you in so long." Brad decided now was as good a time as any.

"Actually mom, I'm coming home in about a month, at the end of my season. I hope that's alright."

"Of course, well I'll see you then, and don't forget to spin your kit twice." And with that she replaced the phone on its hook and turned her attention to the television. Randy was sat there watching 'Tool Time' so Jill decided to join him. They watched as Tim managed to solder his finger to a metal nail. She had told him not to do a salute to soldering irons. But as always he hadn't listened.

The credits rolled and Randy went down to his basement room. He still had the same room he had when he was younger.

Jill was just about to get back to work on her latest thesis when the door opened.

"Mom?" Jill turned her head and saw her youngest son standing at the door holding two suitcases. She ran and enveloped him in a tight hug. Mark had given up on being a Goth and now looked just like a regular 21 year old.

"Mark hunni. What are you doing here?" Jill asked finally releasing Mark.

"Me and Sadie, we split up. She kept the house so I guess, I'm back?" He said in the cheeriest voice he could muster. Inside he felt awful, and the pain in his stomach hurt like hell, but he wasn't going to let on.

"Hey dork." Randy quipped in a nonchalant voice while walking past to get a soda. Suddenly he stopped. What was Mark doing here? Randy hadn't seen his little brother since Mark moved in with his girlfriend. Things kept seeming to get in the way. But in the back of his mind Randy knew exactly why they hadn't gotten together. They had been avoiding each other. They had never been the closest of brothers, when Mark was younger Randy would tease him, but Mark knew that it was only a joke. Randy didn't really mean to hurt mark. That is, until Randy crossed the boundary a year ago. Mark only found out when he had moved in with his ex girlfriend Sadie. She revealed that when she and Randy first met, they shared a kiss. She had insisted that Randy pulled away and it was all her fault. Mark believed that, but he couldn't get over it and it put an even thicker wall between him and his older brother.

Slowly Randy turned to face Mark. He looked so different from the last time Randy had seen him, but it was definitely him.

"Hey" Randy said slowly, " Its great to see you. Look, about what happened last year…"

"Forget it" Mark interrupted, "I know it wasn't your fault"

"Anyway" Jill decided this was not a conversation that she wanted to start right now, "Randy, could you take Mark's bags up to his room? Mark hunni, how about something to eat?" She slowly led her youngest sun into the living room. Randy lifted his brother's suitcases. They were heavy. He lugged them all the way up the stairs and dumped them into his brother's room. He hadn't been in here in a while, and he left as soon a he could. He slowly wandered back downstairs and found Mark sitting on the couch, crying.

"Where's mom?" Randy asked. Mark quickly wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.

"She went to get some groceries, she said she'd be back in a bit." Mark replied in between sobs. Randy sat down on the couch a little way from Mark and looked at his brother. He knew something more than breaking up with his girlfriend was up with him.

"Mark, what's wrong? I mean, I know you and Sadie broke up but is there something more, cause I've never seen you this broken up about a girl. Is it just that, or is there something else. I mean I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, but I also know it can be kinda hard to talk to mom and dad. I'm here if you need to talk." Randy got up and headed to the kitchen, grabbed a plate and a bag of cookies and poured two glasses of milk. It always cheered them up when they were kids.

Mark shifted in his seat, making some more room on the couch and winching at the pain which stuck his lower abdomen.

"Randy, you're the one person I know I can talk to about this, excluding Brad." Mark said taking a cookie, and then changing his mind at the thought of eating it. " Would it be possible to go to your room tho, I don't want mom coming back and eavesdropping, you know how she is." Randy was confused, but understood his brother really wanted to talk in private so he led him down to the basement, confusion filling him all the time. They sat on Randy's bed in silence for about ten minutes when Mark finally said

"Randy, I broke it off with Sadie, not the other way round. But that's not why I'm upset" He stopped to take a deep breath, and Randy noticed he was in pain. "I… I have to have surgery tomorrow morning" Randy felt a great amount of worry suddenly rush over his body. What was wrong, he wondered. "Don't worry," Mark continued, "it's not that serious. I've just got to have my appendix out." Randy was really relived, it explained why Mark didn't eat much and kept wincing slightly whenever he moved. "I'm scared Randy." Randy heard the fear in his little brother's voice. He gently placed his hand on Mark's shoulder.

"Why don't you want mom and dad to know?" Randy asked.

"You know how they worry, I didn't want to put them through it." This wasn't the real reason, but he didn't want to tell his older brother the real reason. "Randy? Could you possibly come with me? You now, drive me there, be there when I come out of surgery?"

"Sure, but Mark your going to have to tell mom at some point. She'll start to wonder where you've gone."

"You can tell her when I'm out of surgery, I'm fine with that, I don't want her to worry beforehand that's all" Mark was getting better at lying, Randy was believing all that he said.


	2. It was all sorted out

Marks surgery was at 9 the next morning. Randy arranged with Mark for them to leave at 7, that way they would be there in time. They told mom that they were going to visit an old friend who had just come into town. Luckily she didn't ask who as she was in a rush. Randy hated lying to his mom but he wanted to help Mark feel as relaxed as possible, and if Mark didn't want mom and dad to know before hand, he wouldn't tell them.

Mark sat in the car, nervously touching the fresh cuts on his arm. That was the real reason he didn't want his parents there. After the surgery he was sure the doctors would tell them about all the cuts on his arm. He waited nervously for Randy to get in the car. He hoped the doctors wouldn't tell Randy either, but even if they did, he could trust his older brother not to tell his parents if he said he didn't want him to.

Four hours later Randy was sat at the edge of Mark's bed watching his little brother sleep. It hurt him to see Mark like this, he looked so weak. You could see all the slashes down his right arm. He had no idea Mark was so depressed he had resorted to this. He would cover the arm up when mom turned up and make sure they don't know.

Make's eyes slowly opened and Randy turned to face him.

"Hi Mark. Do you feel okay?

"Better than I thought, just sleepy. Randy, does mom know yet?" Then mark noticed his scratched arm was lying fully visible and whipped it under the covers.

"Yer mark" Randy said, acting as if he hadn't noticed the arm, "I phoned her an hour after you got out of surgery. She was slightly annoyed, but she said that they would come visit later tonight, when they were both done with work."

"Thanks Randy. Now if you don't mind, I feel quite tired." His eyes slowly drooped shut. Randy took that as his cue to leave. He decided to go to the canteen and get a coffee. His mind was somewhere else completely when he sat on the plastic chair sipping a steamy cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup. He still couldn't believe that mark had been self-harming. There were so many things he wanted to ask him. When, why, how long for? But he decided it would be best to wait til Mark was home again, then they could talk about it more privately. He chucked back the rest of his coffee and slowly wandered back to marks room, the image of the red scars all the

way up Mark's arm wouldn't leave his mind.

Two weeks later and Mrk was ready to be dispatched. He still had the stitches in and would have to return to the hospital in a week to have them removed, but he was allowed to go home for a while.

Jill had to work, Tim was filming Tool Time and Brad wasn't due home until that evening so Randy went to pick Mark up. He didn't mind, it gave him some time to talk to Mark alone.

Randy arrived at 11 that morning. He helped Mark into the passenger seat, put his bags into the trunk and clambered into the drivers seat.

"It'll be nice to be home again wont it?" Randy said, trying to start a conversation. Mark just mumbled something which Randy couldn't hear.

Mark realised the day of his operation that Randy had seen the cuts on his arm, as much as his older brother tried to hide it. Randy kept throwing concerned glances at Marks arm and it was driving mark crazy.

"Just ask for god's sake." Mark yelled.

"I was going to wait til we got home. Mark, I'm sorry if you didn't want me to know but I do, and I'm concerned."

"I know Randy, but I'm just not ready to talk about it, not yet. When I am, you're the first person I'll come to, okay?" Mark then encased his face in his hands and started to cry. Randy placed one of his hands on Marks shoulder and looked at his younger brother. Mark looked so vulnerable and so sad. Randy felt a twinge of guilt . If only…

"RANDY!" Mark screamed, pulling Randy out of his trance, just as their car tumbled down a ditch and slammed into a tree. Randy heard Mark release an ear piercing scream. Suddenly everything went black.


	3. Why did it have to change

"Brad, sweetie, just calm down. Now, what were you asking?" Brad Taylor was on the other end of the phone talking to his mom, tears gently rolling down his face. His heart was pounding. He took a deep breath, and repeated what he had asked minutes before.

"Was Randy picking Mark up in the mustang?"

"I think so, why? Brad what's going on?" Jill had never heard her oldest son sound so concerned. It made her scared.

"mom, I just heard a report on the radio. A mustang tumbled into a ditch and collided with a tree. Inside there are two males both of around twenty. It's serious." Brad swallowed hard. The descriptions of the boys given was so like his two younger brothers. He didn't want to believe it. Jill sank into a nearby chair, grabbing the television remote and switching to the news, there was the very crash Brad was talking about.

"Brad, I'm going to have to go. Just go straight home would you, I'll be there soon don't worry." She hung up. The crash looked dreadful and the way they were describing it made Jill shivered. She swallowed, hard.

Tim had the rest of the day off, he had just finished filming Tool Time for the day. So he was lying on the couch relaxing, watching some football and drifting off to sleep. His oldest son Brad was coming home today, earlier than planned because of Marks earlier surgery, he wanted to be there for him. Tim's eyelids drooped but sprung open suddenly when the phone went. He lifted himself off of the couch, and looked at the time. Where were Mark and Randy? He wondered. He just shrugged it of, assuming they were stuck in traffic.

He lifted the reciver, the person on the other end asked who was speaking and he told them. What he was told next made him feel as though he was about to collapse. He grabbed the kitchen counter for support.

"Yes. I understand. Thank you very much." He placed the phone on the hook. Mark and Randy in car crash. Serious. Randy in hospital. All the information he had just received went rushing through his mind. Suddenly the door opened and in walked Brad. The look on his fathers face confirmed what he had been dreading. He was about to speak when Jill walked, her face was white, her eyes, red and puffy.

"Jill." Tim aid in the most calm voice he could, "Theres been an accident, with Randy and Mark." Jill burst into a fresh set of tears. She couldn't believe it. Neither could Brad. Tim led his family into the nomad and they set off towards the hospital. They drove past the crash site. What they saw made them all feel terrified. The car was wrecked. There was an ambulance, four police cars and two cranes. They couldn't stop the thought that at least one of their sons could be dead. It hurt, deep inside.

At the crash site a group of highly trained men were surrounding the car, trying to carefully de-tangled the limp form of Mark Taylor from the wreckage. Randy had just been sent to hospital, unconscious but alive. Mark was proving harder to remove from the trashed car.

When the car hit the tree, the force snapped the frame of the windscreen, just as Mark was moving forwards. The sharp end of one of the snapped piece of windscreen pierced through the point where moments before the crash his stitches had been.

The workers knew that once false move could be fatal so they worked slowly.

The Taylor family arrived at the hospital a while later. They raced into the waiting room, out of breath and paniking. The image of the crash fresh on their minds. They wanted to see Randy and Mark, prove to themselves they were alright. They kew Randy was already there, Tim had been told that over the phone. But they had no idea about Mark.

A woman in reception led them slowly to a private room where their middle son lay, unconscious with bandages wrapped around his chest and his left arm in a cast. His face was covered in stitches, cuts and bruises, some of which, they were told, could leave scars. Seeing her son like this broke Jills heart. She went over and held her sons hand gently between her own.

After a few minutes, which seemed like hours, the doctor entered the room.

"Mr and mrs Taylor? I'm Dr Woodrige." He stated matter of factly. "Your son has been extremely lucky. The car accident he was involved in was very serious. I'm sure you've heard the reports. But your son came out with minor injuries in comparision. He has two broken ribs, which we have strapped. They may cause him pain for a few days, when he moves or breathes, but this should ease off within a week. His left arm is broken in four places, his shoulder, upper arm, elbow and wrist. With the next few months it will gradually fix and, with the help of phisyotherepy, he should regain full control of the arm within the next 6 months. He was very lucky. You may stay here as long as you like, Randy should regain full conciousness in the next few hours. I'll come back in a while." The doctor turned to leave.

"Dr Woodrige, do you know anything of our other son, Mark? He was the other person in the crash."

"I'm sorry Mr Taylor I don't, but I'll get Nurse Bloomill to let you know as soon as we do." The doctor stepped out of the room.

While they were slightly relieved, dread was also filling them. Why was it taking so long for them to hear about Mark. They were all praying he was all right.

At the crash site the second ambulance was finally pulling off and heading for the hospital. After three hours they had successfully managed to dis-entangle Mark from the wreckage. Mark was barely breathing as he was lifted into the ambulance, he would need surgery and had suffered a high blood loss. A piece of the wreckage had been lodged into his stomach and had to be removed. He should be fine after that.

"Mr and Mrs Taylor?" a young looking nurse with short blond hair walked into the room. "Your son Mark has just been admitted. He has to go into surgery. I shall let you know more when I hear it." She turned and left the room. Jill burst into a fresh set of tears. She wasn't sure wether they were out of relief of fear for her poor baby.

"Mom?" Randy's voice was small and caught the three Taylors off guard.

**Thanks for reading all. I hope your enoying. If you have the time to review it would be really apprecitated, if not dont worry. next chapter out soon. Coolkitten12**


	4. Will it ever be the same?

**Hey sorry it has taken so long to update but I've been busy. On with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters (except ones you dot recognise) so don't sue me, please! **

"Mom?" Randy's voice was small and caught the three Taylors off guard.

Jill rushed to her middle son's hand.

"Randy. Oh sweetie, are you alright?" Jill said her voice full of relief and worry. Tears spilled out of Randy's eyes. After a few moments he finally muttered,

"It's all my fault." This statement shocked the members of the Taylor family standing around Randy's bed. "Is…" Randy started realising Mark was no where to be seen and hadn't been mentioned. "Is Mark alright?" Randy gulped.

Jill shot Tim a sideways glance, which Brad took as a sign to leave the room. He had some things to sort out anyway. He gently opened the door and stepped out into the squeaky clean corridor.

Tim sat down next to his wife taking her hand.

"Mark's in surgery. We don't know how bad he is. It'll be fine." Tim added that last part to try and calm his own nerves. He felt his wife's hand tightly grip his own and turned to face her. He took her into a tight embraced as Jill's tears soaked through his shirt. Randy rolled carefully onto his other side. He couldn't bear to see his family like this. He felt it was all his fault. He could barely cope, but he couldn't make his family feel worse so he held it in, determined to keep his feelings to himself.

Brad walked slowly outside of the hospital. He couldn't believe everything that had happened. Two weeks ago he had been on the phone to his mom, talking to her about coming home for the summer. It was only meant to be a temporary thing, but after recent events he was considering making it more permanent. Brad pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and scanned through his phone book until he found Ami's number which he promptly went on to call.

Randy slowly closed his eyes, even though he didn't want to. He was so tired. He felt sick deep in his stomach.

"It's all my fault" a voice in his mind kept repeating to him. He couldn't stop thinking of the "if onlys". He drifted into a deep sleep, flashes of the crash racing through his mind. It tore him apart, hurting him inside.

Tim and Jill realised Randy had fallen asleep. They quietly left the room to leave him in peace; they were still coming to terms with what had happened. Today was meant to be a happy day. Everyone was going to be together again for the first time in many years. And now this had happened.

"Why do things, like this always happen to us?" Jill asked. She wasn't really expecting an answer and Tim didn't provide one. He was as confused as his wife. Randy had always been such a good driver. What had caused him to be so distracted that this happened? Tim knew now wasn't the time to ask, he wasn't even sure there would ever be a time to ask, but if there was Randy would talk to him, they had always been close. Tim's thoughts turn to his youngest son.

The bright lights of the operation theatre shone upon Marks slowly breathing body. He had been in surgery for around an hour and finally things were looking up. The piece of metal had been removed, most of the lost blood had been replaced and the stitches were in place. The only thing left was to bandage the wound. Carefully pure white bandages were wrapped around Marks midriff. The doctor wiped his brow, it had been the toughest piece of surgery he had ever preformed, but it had been successful, and that was a relief.

On the bench outside the hospital sat Brad Taylor. His face was still white from the shock of today's events. He was talking as calmly as possible down the phone to his girlfriend of nearly 3 years.

"Brad is everything alright?" came Ami's concerned mid-pitched voice down the line. She had been watching the news and had heard of the crash. When the names of Brad's brothers had been released she had hardly believed it. She knew it would hit Brad hard, and knew that she had to be there for him, even though today had been hard for her too. She had been fired from her long term job at a local clothes store.

"Ami it's not good. They are both in hospital, Marks in a worse position, he's having surgery right now, I don't know if he's going to make it. Listen, you don't have to make a decision right now but I was thinking. My family really need me right now. I know my stay in Detroit was only going to be temporary but, maybe we could make it a bit more... well…. Permanent?" Brad wasn't sure how Ami was going to react. But he knew he had to stay with his family. Ami's gentle voice cut through his thought.

"Hunny, I think that is an excellent idea." Ami thought about life in Detroit. She no longer had anything puling her to Chicago. Brad had his soccer but she knew he was growing bored of soccer. And she knew how important his family was to him. It could be good to make a fresh start. "Brad, I will sort everything out here and come see you in a few weeks". Brad breathed a sigh of relief. He never thought Ami would be so happy to move, she had grown up in Chicago.

"Thanks. I will make this up to you soon I promise." Brad said his goodbyes and then hung up, deciding to stay sat outside for a while longer. How had his life changed so much in so short a time? Everything was different now, even if it wasn't mean to be.

Tim was returning from the cafeteria with 2 polystyrene cups of coffee for him and Jill when he saw the nurse who had informed them of Mark going into surgery a few hours ago, entering Randy's room, he rushed towards the door as fast as he could, without causing himself minor coffee burns.

Jill was sat with her hand firmly holding that of her son. The silence was deafening, the atmosphere morbid. Jill felt sick to the stomach, though her heart rate was slowly decreasing back to normal. The room was dark; Jill dared not turn the light on for risk of waking her son. He needed his sleep.

There was a gentle tap upon the door, which followed to open slowly allow light to lightly fill the room. Jill assumed it was Tim back with the coffees so she didn't move, not until she heard a female voice talking softly into the room.

"Mrs Taylor?" there stood the nurse who had promised to tell the Taylors about Mark as soon as she new. Jill stood up and walked towards the door. She motioned to the nurse to go to the corridor to talk. Just as they were leaving the door Tim arrived, looking scared, holding two polystyrene cups, with brown coffee stains down his shirt.

"Some things never change." thought Jill. The nurse turned to the Taylor parents.

"Mr and Mrs Taylor. Your son has just been released from surgery" seeing the apprehension on Jill and Tim's faces she continued quickly. "Mark is fine; he is currently unconscious though we expect him to wake in a day or two." Colour flooded back to the Taylor parents. Brad was walking around the corner just as the nurse said this, relief flooded his body. There was still hope.

The Taylors walked back into Randy's room, Jill and Tim taking seats on the small sofa at the end of the bed, Brad taking position next to his brother. Randy rolled over onto his side waking slowly and rubbing his sleep filled eyes.

"Brad? Is that you?" Randy turned his blurry eyes towards his older brother. His mind ran back to all the times he had spent with his brothers, playing, messing about and more often than not, teasing and winding up Mark. This thought made small tears form in Randy's eyes. Randy remembered the cuts on Mark's arms, thinking of the possibility that it was all his fault. Randy was blaming himself, for everything.

"Hey bro. Sleep much?" Brad said, half jokily, trying to lighten the dark mood which he was finding hard to deal with. A small smile crept across Randy's face but it rapidly disappeared.

"I shouldn't be smiling or feeling happy at a time like this!" Randy thought closing his eyes for a few moments. When he opened them again he saw his brothers deep blue eyes staring at him. "Brad I'm fine really, you don't need to be so worried" The fact that he had scared the rest of his family and had put them in this situation only hurt him more. Tim saw the pain in his son's eyes and stood up.

"Randy, I'm going back to the house to get some things, is there anything you need?" Tim enquired. His father's friendliness made him feel guiltier deep down. They didn't know it was all his fault. They just ignored it when he told them. Everything today was all his fault.

"I don't think so, really dad I'm fine, you don't need to worry so much."

"Okay randy, if you're sure" Tim wasn't so sure his son was telling the truth but knew now wasn't the time to pry, he gave his son's hand a tight squeeze. , kissed his wife and told them all he would be back soon and left the room. Jill quietly got up and followed him.

"Tim," she said placing a hand on hr husband's shoulder. She had seen his face in there, he was being strong, "it's going to be alright." She reached up and gave her husband another kiss then allowed him to go.

Back in the room Brad was looking at his brother, whose eyes were once again beginning to droop. He was glad he had decided to move to Detroit, and knew from that minute it was the right decision. He squeezed his brother hand as Randy's eyes finally won the battle and closed, releasing Randy one again into a deep sleep, though an un-peaceful one. Brad walked out of Randy's room to find Jill sat in one of the chairs, tears rolling down her eyes.

**Okay so that's all for now. I promise I won't take as long to update next time, as long as I don't get much coursework. I may take a few weeks as I have two other stories to update and I have my GCSE mocks coming up. Thanks to all reviews and especially to navycorpsman** **for his help with American phrases, I realise I have made mistake earlier on and if I've made any this chapter let me no. I will eventually get round to changing them. Please, if you can, would you review to let me know what you think, it would really make my day. **

**Coolkitten12**


	5. Okay, so this isnt a full ch 5

**A/n: hi alright well probably no one is reading this now as it took me so long to update, and this isn't really an update, cos I'm not feeling inspired by this story, I'm going to update hopefully this weekend but here is a taster of the ch.**

Brad sat next to his mother, neither saying anything for the best part of an hour. They didn't no what to say, it just felt so weird.

Jill noticed her oldest son's eyes starting to droop as they sat in the waiting room outside Randy's room.

"Brad, sweetie why don't you go home and get some sleep? Your rooms all ready. And stop worrying so much, it'll be fine." If he hadn't felt so tired Brad would have stayed, but he was no use with drooping eyes. He turned to his mother, deciding to tell her the news now.

"Mom, I just thought I would tell you that I'm thinking of making this a more…

….. "HELP!!!!!!" Came a scream from inside Mark's room, Jill and Brad threw each other concerned glances and then raced into the room.

**So, I no this is short, but its only a taster, I should get the next ch. up soon now mocks r done. Thanks for putting up with me. xxxx**


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